Pokemon: Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier
by Cobaltwaryear
Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem and multiple pairings inside.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon: The Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier

Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem and multiple pairings inside.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

* * *

A lone cloaked figure walked down the dirt road towards the place where everything began. Soon, he thought, he would be home and after all these years he would be able to see the people he cared about again. It had been a long journey to get where he was at, but that didn't matter. What did; was the fact that he could return with his head held high because he was able to accomplish all that he set out to do.

From within his cloak, there was some light rustling before a small yellow rodent poked its head out from under it. "Pika?" It asked as it hopped over to his shoulder. "Soon, Pikachu. We'll be back in Pallet town really soon." He promised as he continued onwards.

* * *

In Pallet town, there was a flurry of activity as everyone was rushing to set things up. People were hurrying to put up decorations, balloons were being inflated and food was being rushed out of the kitchen and set down on the rather large wooden table at a certain area in Professor Oak's backyard. "May, how's the sign going?" A bluenette asked as she worked the air pump as fast as she could. "Almost finished, Dawn." A brunette answered before turning to a red head who was carrying food.

"Is that the last of the food?" She asked and was answered as soon as the food had been safely set onto the table. "Yup, but just look at this spread. Brock Cilan and Mrs. Ketchum sure did a great job." The other teen answered as the one called May giggled. "Brock is already a great cook, but with Mrs. Ketchum and Cilan's cooking too… This is a feast fit for kings and queens!" She declared before going back to the task at hand. "Man, that guy sure is lucky. He'll have all this waiting for him upon his return right, Iris?"

Iris chuckled at that as she put the drinks down on the table where Axew was currently sitting. "Well, it's been a long time since we all saw him and that's good enough a reason to celebrate, if you ask me." She replied before looking over at the red head. "Hey Misty, where did Tracy and Gary go?" Misty was going to answer when suddenly Brock, Cilan, Delia Ketchum and Professor Oak suddenly ran outside. "Everyone we need to hurry with the preparations! Gary just called, and they'll be here soon!" Professor Oak shouted as everyone scrambled to finish up with all the preparations.

* * *

"So everyone's at professor Oak's. Huh. What are they all doing there?" Tracey tried to keep his face as normal as possible as he led the way to the laboratory. "Professor Oak needed some help so he called everyone over." He answered, hoping his voice didn't betray his excitement. "Oh." The other male simply answered. "But anyways how long it been since we last saw each other in person?" Gary asked as the raven haired male thought about it. "It's been a couple of years Gary."

"But it doesn't look like things have changed much." He added as he looked around the town before spotting a particular building that he was very familiar with. Slowly, a small smirk appeared on his face as he suddenly shot off. "Race you to Professor Oak's!" He cried and after his companions got over their initial shock over his actions, quickly sprinted after him. "No fair, you had a head start!" Gary shouted to the running figure in front of him, but the other teen just laughed.

As expected he got there first and after waiting for half a minute for his companions to arrive, he opened the door. But unexpectedly, what greeted him was silence. The teen scratched his head. "Where's everyone?" He asked. "They're probably out back." Gary answered as he began leading the group to the backyard door. But uncharacteristically, he stopped and turned back to the smaller male before moving to the side and gesturing at the door.

"After you." He said and the other male quickly got suspicious. "What's going on? You guys didn't set up a trap did you?" He asked as he looked at the other two warily, but Gary just scoffed. "Like we'd do that, what are we, five?" He asked before taking things into his own hands as he nodded to Tracy, who seemed to received some sort of message. Gary then stepped in front of the door again and put his hand on the doorknob as Tracy quietly and quickly went behind the raven haired teen.

Gary opened the door and quickly sidestepped away from the now open doorway as Tracy pushed the teen through the threshold. He stumbled, but managed to regain his balance before he fell. He was going to turn back to glare at the other teens when popping sounds assaulted his ears as all the people he cared about came out of their hiding places, party poppers in hand. "Surprise! Welcome back to Pallet town!" They cried and the teen couldn't help but to smile.

As they began their party a gentle breeze drifted through the backyard and the giant sign made of canvas cloth billowed in the wind. For a few seconds the only thing that could be read of the text written on it was the first part which read, "Welcome back." But once the cloth settled, the full message of, "Welcome back Max and congratulations for making top sixteen in the Kanto League!", could be seen by any and all onlookers.

* * *

The party was still going on strong even after an hour and it seemed that the celebration was going to continue for a long time. But unfortunately it seemed that fate had other plans. The doorbell suddenly started ringing, but whoever was ringing it kept pressing the button repeatedly and in quick succession to boot. Professor Oak frowned. Who could that be a, child from the neighborhood playing a prank? But when the door bell didn't stop, and seemed to ring even more, the man gave up.

He walked back into his house and headed to his front door before opening it to see who was ringing the door bell behind it. What he saw honestly surprised him. "Jackson? What are you doing here and what happened to you? You look like fell into a pitfall full of brambles and thorns." He said as he frowned. He knew this boy, he was one of the children who lived nearby. But right now the boy was covered with scratches and grazes from head to toe, and his clothes were torn and ripped.

"Professor, there's no time for that! You've got to help Gilbert and Isabella! They're still stuck in the meadow!" He exclaimed and the Professor placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Slow down Jackson, and explain what happened from the beginning." The professor told him as his mind raced a hundred miles per minute, Gilbert and Isabella, he knew those children as well. But what did Jackson mean when he said that they were still in the meadow?

"Gilbert and Isabella, we decided to go exploring so we went to the meadow near Pallet town by ourselves. But then there was this big flock of Spearow and Fearow that came out of nowhere and suddenly started attacking us. We tried running away and somewhere along the lines, we got separated and only I made it back. Please Professor, you've got to help. They could be in big trouble by now!" The boy pleaded as Professor Oak's eyes widened.

"Then there's no time to lose, we need to find them and bring them back immediately! The Spearow and Fearow that live by Pallet town are known to be particularly vicious to humans!" He said before going in to call the others, the more people that came to help out, the faster they'd be able to find the children. After giving them a quick briefing on the situation, they began to head out but when Jackson was about to follow them, Professor Oak gave him a look that told him to stay put.

"Jackson, I know you're worried about your friends… But you're injured and need to have those wounds cleaned and treated immediately, lest they get infected. Stay here and let Delia bandage you up, we'll definitely bring your friends back for you safe and sound." Jackson looked like he wanted to protest but one look at the serious and determined look on the professor and the teens' face and he lost the will to do that, and instead nodded.

"Alright." Professor Oak only gave him a curt nod before the group began running to the meadow that the boy said they had went to. Luckily, it wasn't that far off from his lab. But as they got closer to their destination, the old man started to feel a foreboding sense. But he brushed it off, he could think about omens all he wanted, later. For now, his top priority were the two children who were still stuck in the meadow.

* * *

A child cowered under the shade of a large tree as he tried to make himself even smaller. He was merely hoping against hope that his pursuers wouldn't find him, because if they did then he was sure that he would never be able to make it back home again. Stupid! Why did he ever suggest going to the meadow? If he hadn't then he wouldn't be in this mess. If only he listened to the warning the grownups said about how the Spearow and the Fearow that live in the area attacked humans often.

If he did, then he and his friends… He gulped as he remembered that his two friends who were also stuck in the same predicament as him. He could only hope that his friends got out of the meadow safely. But he really had the worst luck! To think that he ran into the nearby woods instead of running in the direction of the town. But at the time, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going. The only thing in his mind was to get away from the aggressive flying types.

He started when he heard flapping of wings and was prepared to start running when he saw that it was just a Pidgey. This was no time to be hiding, he thought. What he needed to do was try to get back to Pallet town. If he, or even just one of his friends got back to town, then they'd be able to call help for the others. With that resolve in mind he slowly stood up and started to run. He had no idea where he was but if he kept running, surely he'd find his way back to the meadow at some point.

He ran and ran, only occasionally looking back to check if there was anything following him. He continued to move forward, despite the branches and brambles that added more holes on his clothes. He had cuts all over, but he ignored the pain and was able press on because of his adrenaline rush. "Spear!" He dared to look past his shoulder and saw a group of five Spearow hot on his trail. He quickened his pace as best he could while dodging trees, but his luck ran out when he tripped on a rock and fell.

The Spearows attacked without mercy. They pecked at him with their beaks and scratched him with their sharp talons, and just when he thought that it was over, blue and yellow lights suddenly tore through the air and hit the group of Spearows. They cried out in pain, before some of them fell to the ground, unconscious. Those who hadn't been knocked out by the attack flew away, most probably to get reinforcements.

The boy slowly uncurled his body when he could no longer feel or hear the flying type pokemon. When he opened his eyes, he saw a group of teenagers standing in front of him with a variety of different Pokemon standing by their side, and leading the group was someone he knew very well. "Professor Oak!" He cried out in relief as the man rushed over to him to examine him. "Gilbert, can you move?" He asked and the boy tried to stand. He winced when he felt pain and soreness throughout his body, now that his adrenaline rush was over, and fell back on his butt.

"I'll take that as a no." Gary Oak said before continuing. "Gilbert, do you know where Isabella is?" At the mention of his friend's name he immediately turned to look at the teen before shaking his head. "J-Jackson, Isabella and I, we got separated when we were trying to run away. B-but I think I saw her go to the direction of the woods too…" He answered shakily before biting his lips. "It's all my fault. I should have never suggested going out into the meadow to see Pokemon…" He said as he lowered his head.

He looked up though when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw a man with squinty eyes giving him a kind smile. "Hey no need to beat yourself over this, you didn't know that the Spearow and the Fearow would attack the three of you. And your friends don't blame you, Jackson actually ran all the way to professor Oak's to ask him to rescue you two. What's important is that you know what you did wrong and try to correct your mistakes." He told him gently.

"But how can I do that?" He asked and this time a green haired teen answered him. "While you're flavor right now is bitter, I can tell deep down that your soul's flavor is sweet and mellow. What you can do to fix your mistakes is to help us find your friend. It's getting dark and we could use another pair of eyes to help us look for Isabella." He told him and Gilbert nodded with determination shining in his eyes before climbing onto the back Tracey had offered him when it seemed that his body wasn't going to cooperate with him.

Shortly after that, the group set off to search for the little girl. "Isabella? Are you here?" Dawn shouted as she looked at her surroundings for any sign of the child. "If you're here please answer us!" Misty shouted, but she had been met with silence. "This isn't good this forest is too big, she could be anywhere by now." May said before continuing. "Any luck up there, Iris?" She asked as a large tree's leaves rustled as Iris jumped down to the ground.

"I couldn't see even a trace of her." She answered as she shook her head sadly. "How about you guys then, do you see anything by the river?" May asked the guys and was answered by her brother. "No, she's not here." May's face fell at that, but that was when Gary suddenly spoke up. "Guys, come over here!" He called out and after hearing the urgency in his tone, the others quickly ran over to where the auburn haired teen was. "What is it?" Dawn asked as she tried to see what he was hunched over.

"Guys, look at the mud. There's a fresh shoeprint on it, and judging from the size, it probably belongs to a child." He explained as everyone reached the same conclusion. "So, Isabella was here but now she's already left this place. But the question is where could she have gone next?" Tracey murmured as an idea came to mind. "Gary are there any other places which have footprints?" He asked, but the other teen merely shook his head. "I searched, but this was the only one I could find."

"But judging from the shoeprint, Isabella was walking towards the direction of the river and if she really did cross it, then it would make sense that we wouldn't be able to find any more shoeprints…" Brock commented as Misty looked over to the river. "The River isn't too deep and its currents aren't really that strong, so it is possible for even a child to cross it... But look over there! Those stones, she could have used it to get to the other side!" She exclaimed as she pointed at a line of large flat stones.

"Since we already know which direction she took, then we should move out immediately!" Max told them as he began running to the river, with the others following close behind him. Once they crossed it, they found another shoeprint on a mud puddle and used it as their guide to find which way the girl went. They probably walked around for five minutes in the general direction that Isabella took when they got attacked by another flock of Spearows.

There were eight of them this time, and among them was one that had injuries all over it. It was definitely one of the Spearow that managed to get away earlier. As the flying types began to use their attacks on the group, the teens decided that fight would be more favorable than flight right about now and gave commands to their own Pokemon. "Pachirisu use discharge again!", "Emolga, Spark one more time!", "Pansage, bullet seed please!", "Umbreon, use hidden power", "Marshtomp, you use mud shot!"

The pokemon complied with their masters as they all fired their respective attacks which had caused a large explosion and when the smoke cleared the group could see five Spearow out while the other three were attempting to fly away. "Oh no you don't! Azurill Water Gun." Misty ordered as May looked at her Wartortle. "You use water gun too, Wartortle!" She told him and both water pokemon shot out pressurized water from their mouths which hit the escaping Pokemon.

The Spearow fell to the ground and they uttered weak cries before going unconscious. "Well that takes care of them for now." May said and just as the group was about to continue trekking into the deeper parts of the forests, Gilbert suddenly shouted. "Wait!" All eyes instantly turned to Gilbert who pointed at something. "Over there, I think I see something." He said as the group turned to look at what he was pointing at and like he had said, there was something that was caught on a branch.

It looked like a scrap of cloth, but when the group got a closer look they saw that it was a small ribbon. "That ribbon, there's no doubt it. It's from Isabella's dress." Gilbert said. "Then Isabella must have passed here and she could still even be close by. We should hurry, otherwise the distance between her and us will just continue to grow." Professor Oak said and just as he was about to say something else, he was cut off when they heard what sounded like a child's scream.

The group sprinted as fast as they could to the source of the scream and found themselves at a cliff overlooking a clearing. In the center was a child with long chestnut colored hair that was curly at the ends with matching chestnut colored eyes. But right now, those eyes were wide in terror as a group of three Spearow and one Fearow loomed over her like a shadow of death. The Fearow's beak began to glow as it started to use the move, Drill Peck, and the group could only watch in horror as it dived for the child.

But instead of meeting with soft human flesh, its beak literally made contact with a rock hard exterior. The Fearow screeched in pain before moving back to get some distance between him and the new interloper. The group's jaw dropped at the sight they saw before them, in between Isabella and the Fearow was a large Gigalith who didn't even seem the least bit fazed by the flying types attack. Instead it roared before summoning large and sharp rocks and hurling it to the flying types.

Dimly, the professor realized that the Gigalith was using stone edge. The group watched in awe as the attack met its targets and the super effective attack seemed to be much more than what the flying types could handle, and all of them fell to the ground unconscious. Once Professor Oak processed what had just happened, he looked at the Gigalith and frowned. While they had been extremely lucky that it had been where it was. It was unheard of for a Gigalith to be in the forest by Pallet town, which meant…

The professor's theory had proved itself true as a cloaked figure, who he guessed was the Gigalith's trainer entered the clearing. The old Professor then took this chance to get the others out of their stupors, before urging them to find a way to the clearing. The man walked towards the Gigalith and after giving it a pat on his head for his good job, walked towards the little girl that was behind him. The man merely knelt down in front of the girl before addressing her. "Don't worry, you're safe now." He told her as the girl looked visibly relieved, but soon tears she hadn't realized that were there began to fall.

She didn't want to cry, but it was the first time since the flying types had attacked her and her friends that she felt that things were going to be okay. Soon she found herself hugging the stranger in front of her as the tears that she had been holding back came out in torrents. The man merely rubbed the girl's back in a soothing way as sobs wracked her lithe form. "Shh. It's ok now." He murmured in a soft voice, as he tried to comfort child.

After a while her tears finally subsided as she slowly let go of him. "Feeling better now?" He asked and she only nodded, her voice completely used up from crying. "You've got a lot of cuts on you, but can you walk?" He asked in a gentle tone. But the child merely shook her head before looking down at her left foot. The man frowned though it wasn't seen because of the hood he had on, before gesturing to her foot. "May I?" He asked and when she nodded, he carefully pulled off her brown boot.

He cradled her foot in his hands as he examined it. "Don't worry; it looks like it's just a sprain. But it's best if you don't stand on it for a while." He told her. "Isabella!" A voice suddenly cried out and the clearing's occupants turned to its source. They saw a group that was running over towards them; at first the child didn't realize who called her name, but when she saw the child who was riding piggy back on one of the teens, her eyes lit up. "Gilbert!" She called out, but her voice ended up coming out raspy.

The man merely looked at the fast approaching group in silence before he stood up. It was then did a sudden gale decide to blow through the clearing which caused the stranger's hood to fall off. The group literally froze in place when they saw what was under the hood. The person was an attractive male who couldn't be older than eighteen. He had slightly unkempt raven hair and familiar warm chocolate brown eyes. There was a moment of silence before "Ash?!" Could be heard echoing throughout the clearing.

"Hey guys, I'm back!"

* * *

An hour later they all found themselves in professor Oak's living room, watching in amazement at Ash who was telling the tale of how he got to Isabella. "There we were getting attacked by Spearows when we heard a scream and I sent Gigalith first. I stayed behind with Pikachu, but then he told me that he could handle the Spearows all by himself and told me to go ahead. So I ran through the woods until I finally reached the clearing and found both Gigalith and Isabella."

He said as the children seemed to be at awe with his story. "That's so cool! Your Pikachu took care of twelve Spearows by himself?" Jackson asked as his eyes lit up in childish glee. Pikachu then stood from where it was seated on the arm rest of the couch and puffed its little chest out proudly. "That's right, but Gigalith did great too." He answered. "Yeah, Gigalith was really cool and strong. One day when I become a Pokemon trainer I want to have a Gigalith too!" Isabella exclaimed and Professor Oak smiled.

"Well Gigalith and their pre-evolved forms, Reggenrola and Boldore, are native in the Unova Region. So if you really want one you'll have to go there one day, Isabella." The man said as the girl answered immediately. "I'll definitely go there professor! When I grow up I want to see all of the regions and all of the different pokemon in the world!" She declared. "Me too!" Gilbert said before Jackson also chimed in. "Me three!" While the teens and adults merely chuckled at their excitement and exuberance.

"But to do such a thing you guys need to get big and strong, so you'll need proper nutrition. So who wants dinner?" Brock asked as the children and Ash cheered, which caused the other group to smile and some even giggled. "Still the same I see, Ash." Misty said as the raven haired teen merely scratched his head. "After walking through the woods for hours, I'm starving!" He exclaimed before adding. "And I've really missed Brock, Cilan and mom's home cooking…"

"Like Ash said, we've had a long day. I think having some dinner would be a great idea." Tracy said as the three aforementioned cooks stood and started for the kitchen. "We'll cook up a feast! Not only to celebrate Max's achievement and the children being safe. But my baby's back home too!" Delia said which caused Ash to blush a bright red. "Mom!" He groaned. "Give it up Ashy boy, to her, you'll always be her little baby." Gary told him while he snickered, which prompted Ash to glare at him.

"Alright, break it up boys." Iris said before May spoke up. "Yeah, it's the first time you see each other in years and you two are already fighting…" She said, which caused both boys to look the away from each other." The group sighed at how they were behaving. "You two are such children…" Iris said and before either male could retort, Dawn beat them to it. "Ash, when did your Boldore evolve into a Gigalith?" She asked as the teen took a pokeball from his belt.

"Boldore evolved a few months after I left to train with Brandon." He answered as he began tossing and catching the small ball. "I bet after all this time, some of your other pokemon evolved too." Max said as Ash grinned. "Yup, but not just my old pokemon, some of my new pokemon too." He said which caused a curious look to appear in everyone's eyes. "Your new pokemon?" Misty asked and Ash nodded. "While I was training with Brandon, we traveled a lot and I got the chance to meet and catch a lot of new pokemon!"

Professor Oak's eyes seemed to light up when he said that. "Then if you don't mind, Ash, I'd like to study them one day. Just like your Gigalith, it certainly looks much bigger than most of its species." He said excitedly as an idea came to Ash. "Then how about I show you some of my new Pokemon now? Other than Pikachu and Gigalith the other pokemon I have with me are all Pokemon I just recently captured." He suggested which caused the Professor to abruptly stand.

"Then let's go outside to have some space. Hurry my boy, time's a wasting!" He exclaimed before he started heading to the backyard. There was a moment of silence before Gary decided to break it. "Sorry, grandpa tends to get really excited when it comes to new Pokemon." He said while he scratched his cheek, looking sheepish. "As expected from Professor Oak." Tracey said before the group and the children stood up and trailed after the man.

* * *

"Alright, come on out you guys." Ash cried as he threw up five enlarged Pokeballs as five rays of white light came out from them before they formed into different figures. When the light disappeared and the Pokemon could finally be seen, the Professor's eyes lit up like Christmas had just come early for him this year. "Alright let me introduce you guys to my new friends, guys meet Froslass, Trapinch, Bellosom, Mienfoo, and of course you all remember Gigalith." He said as the group of teen's eyes widened.

The children though, had a different reaction to seeing the Pokemon and ran over to play with them. Jackson went to pet Trapinch and Mienfoo while Gilbert played with Bellossom and Froslass. Isabella had chosen not to join her friends and went straight for Gigalith, who let her ride on his back. As the children laughed and squealed in happiness, professor Oak took this time to talk to the Pokemon's trainer. "Just when and where did you catch all of those Pokemon, Ash?"

"I caught Trapinch and Frosslass when I took a short trip to Hoenn a month ago. Bellosom, I caught her as a Gloom a year back and there was an accident with a sun stone and she ended up evolving into a Bellosom. As for Mienfoo, an old couple gave me her egg as a gift months ago." He explained as the professor quickly took out a small notepad and pen from his coat and began writing things down. "Well I have to say you're Pokemon look very healthy and are quite energetic."

"You've done a fine job in raising them." He said as Ash scratched his cheek. "You're making me blush professor… But thanks." He said as Misty walked up to him. "Your Pokemon look pretty strong Ash, how about a small battle with my Pokemon, just for old time's sake." She asked as Ash mirrored the grin on her face. "You're on-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence when a voice came from inside the house. "Guys, dinner's ready." Cilan shouted and Ash's face looked torn, before he made a decision.

"After Dinner." He said before rushing in the house. Misty sighed as she watched the running figure of the teen, he hasn't changed a bit. Dinner was as expected a lively affair for both humans and Pokemon. There was an abundance of laughter, stories and conversation as they ate what could only be described as the best meal they've probably had, courtesy of the three cooks. After all the food was eaten and the dishes were cleared, the children were to be escorted back to their own homes.

After promising the children that they could come to play with his Pokemon more tomorrow, they headed off with Tracey to their respective homes with matching grins and excited looking eyes. Shortly afterwards, the gang found themselves at professor Oak's backyard. Standing on two opposite sides of the makeshift battlefield were Ash and Misty, with Brock acting as referee. "This is a no substitution, three on three battle between Ash from Pallet and Misty from Cerulean. Begin the match!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the two Pokemon Trainer got a Pokeball from their belts. "Misty Chooses Staryu." "I need your help my friend, Mienfoo." Both pokemon materialized before they got to their battle stance, well, Mienfoo did, anyways. "Staryu start it off with a water gun attack, let's go!" She said as Staryu released a stream of pressurized water. "Mienfoo, dodge it." Ash countered as his Pokemon began to dodge the water with quick and graceful movements with ease.

"Man that Mienfoo sure is agile." Max commented as he looked as the Mienfoo continued to dodge. "No, I think Ash gave his Mienfoo special training to be that fast and nimble. Misty's no slouch when it comes to training her Pokemon, but still Staryu can't land a hit on Mienfoo." Gary explained. "Staryu, that's enough, You'll just tire yourself. Use Rapid Spin instead." The Pokemon complied as it began to spin before flying over to where Mienfoo was.

The attack connected and Mienfoo cried out in pain as she was thrown back. But she quickly recovered and dug her heel into the ground to stop her body from moving back more. "Mienfoo, you okay?" He asked and when he got a small nod he continued. "Alright Mienfoo let's counter with Swift." He said as she began to shoot what seemed like stars towards Staryu. "Staryu get rid of them with Rapid Spin." Misty ordered as Staryu began spinning again and destroyed the shower of stars.

"Mienfoo, get under Staryu and use Force Palm!" Mienfoo started running as soon as she heard that as Misty tried to warn her Staryu. But it was too late, a bright white light came from underneath the spinning Staryu and its center jewel glowed brightly from the pain that came with the attack. "Staryu!" Misty screamed as her pokemon was lifted high in the air from the sheer force of the last attack. "Don't let it go Mienfoo. Finish it off with a jump kick."

Mienfoo began to glow before she jumped up and kicked Staryu back to the ground where its center jewel began blinking signifying it was unconscious. "The first match is over! The winner is Ash's Mienfoo." Brock announced as both trainer walked over to their Pokemon. "You were wonderful Staryu, now return. You deserve a good rest." Misty said as she returned her Pokemon back to its Pokeball. "You did great Mienfoo and your Jump Kick also improved. You should get good rest. "

But as he lifted her Pokeball, he saw her shaking her head. "No, you don't want to go back?" He asked as she nodded. "Mien, Mien, Mienfoo!" She cried out as Ash nodded. "I get it; you want to watch the next matches." He said before continuing. "Sure, why not?" He said as he kept her Pokeball and took out another Pokeball from his belt. "You ready for round two, Misty?" He asked as she too pulled out another Pokeball from her belt.

"Of course I am." She said before throwing her Pokeball with Ash doing the same. Out from Misty's pokeball came a pink and white creature white with what looked like corals protruding from the top of its body/head. "Corsola!" It cried as it began jumping around. Out from Ash's Pokeball was an orange creature with a large head and eyes that were shaped like diamonds. "Trap, Trapinch!" It cried as it stared at its opponent. "Trapinch huh? As usual you don't pay much attention to type advantage."

"Well, when all is said and done. Type advantage doesn't really count for much." He said before continuing. "Trapinch we're going to start, use Rock Slide!" Trapinch stomped on the ground under him which caused it to rise before rocks started to fall towards Corsola. "Corsola use Spike Cannon to break those rocks." Misty ordered as Corsola began glowing before it fired white beams of energy which destroyed the rocks. But the ground underneath Corsola started shaking before Trapinch emerged.

Corsola was lifted into the sky before she fell back down with a loud thud with the super effective attack seeming to cause her a lot of pain. "Corsola, use recover!" Misty shouted as Corsola began to glow with an orange light before her wounds started to heal. Meanwhile as the gang watched on Dawn couldn't help but to pipe up. "But how did Trapinch get over there so quickly?" She asked as the others thought about it. "I think that Ash must have trained Trapinch to use always use dig right after using rock slide." Max said as Cilan hummed in thought.

"It's a smart move considering that this combination can be very useful for follow through attacks. It seems that Trapinch and Ash's teamwork has an unexpected flavor to it." He said as they continued to watch the ongoing match. "Trapinch get in close and use Crunch." Ash ordered which shocked the others with his choice in attack, after all risking a physical attack would make Trapinch susceptible to Corsola's long ranged water type attacks. "Ash, despite what you say about type advantage, you've just given me a good chance to counter attack. Corsola use bubblebeam!"

Corsola then began to release what looked like a stream of bubbles from her mouth towards the Trapinch that was running over to her. "Trapinch run through it!" He said which surprised the gang yet again. "Is he crazy?", "Does he plan on throwing this match?" Could be heard from his friends, but their eyes widened as the little ant Pokemon just kept running through the assault of bubbles before reaching a surprised Corsola and biting one of the corals on its head.

"Corsola!" It cried out in pain as it struggled to get free. "Corsula use Spike Cannon again to get Trapinch off!" Misty shouted frantically. Just as Corsola began to charge up for her attack, Ash shouted. "Trapinch use Bulldoze!" Trapinch released Corsola before it's whole body was enveloped with an orange glow. Just as Corsola was about to fire, Trapinch slammed into her which sent her flying to the other side of the battlefield. When she made impact with the ground, dust rose into the air.

But once they finally settled, they revealed Corsola with swirls for her eyes. "This match is over, Trapinch wins!" Brock declared as both trainers returned their Pokemon after thanking them for their hard work. "Wow, I can't believe that Ash was able to train his Trapinch to be resistant to water attacks. Did you see it just plowed through that bubblebeam like it was nothing?" May said as the others nodded. "Indeed, to think that it didn't seem to mind water… I can't wait to study Ash's Trapinch!" Professor Oak exclaimed.

"But what do you think; do you think Misty can still pull off a win?" Iris asked as Gary thought about it. "If she wants to win, then she'll her third Pokemon needs to defeat Ash's third Pokemon, Mienfoo, and Trapinch. It's unlikely, but not impossible. Misty's Pokemon have been training constantly at Cerulean gym, not to mention, Mienfoo and Trapinch are already tired from their previous battles." May frowned. "Then that means that Misty needs to use her ace for this last match."

"It's all up to you now, Politoed!" "Lend me your strength, my friend." Both teens shouted as they released their final Pokemon. On Misty's side of the battlefield was a green creature that resembled a frog, but it stood on two legs. While on Ash's side was a white creature that had two protrusions made of ice on its head, and arms that looked like kimono sleeves. "Politoed huh? In terms of type, Politoed has the slight advantage for this match." Iris commented before shivering as she looked at Froslass.

"Politoed use Bubble!" Misty ordered as Politoed started firing bubbles at the dual ice and ghost type. "Froslass, use double team!" Ash countered as Froslass made copies of itself that appeared all over the battlefield. "Politoed, don't get distracted by the copies. Keep using bubble to find the real Froslass!" Politoed then started aiming at all the Froslass around him and after getting hit with bubble, the copies instantly disappeared. But once all the copies had been destroyed, the real Froslass was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly a glint of something caught everybody's eye and when Misty looked up, saw it was Froslass a few feet above Politoed and in her hands was a big ball of ice. As understanding dawned on her, she was too late as Froslass was faster and had shot the ice at Politoed. The attack met its mark and Politoed cried out its name from pain. "Poli!" Meanwhile with the gang, "That looked really painful. But why? It shouldn't have been that effective since it's an ice type attack." Dawn commented.

"That may be true, but with proper training it's not impossible for a move that would normally be ineffective to deal a lot of damage." Professor Oak answered before continuing. "Ash must have trained his Froslass really well if an Ice Shard attack can deal so much damage to a Politoed with a lot of experience from constant gym battles." Back on Misty's side of the battle she watched as Politoed get up with a wince and hurried to think of a strategy against Ash and his Froslass.

In a matter of seconds a plan was in her head and she called out. "Politoed use Hypnosis on Froslass." Ash's eyes widened at what she said, that definitely wouldn't be good for Froslass so he hurriedly called out. "Froslass use Astonish." Froslass suddenly disappeared before reappearing in front of Politoed. The sudden appearance caused Politoed to flinch. Inwardly Misty cursed; with just that one move her entire plan was ruined.

"What just happened? Why didn't Politoed use Hypnosis?" Iris asked looking confused with Axew mirroring her look. "It's because Astonish is a priority move that can cause the opponent to flinch. It was a good choice on Ashy-boy's part to use Astonish to stop Hypnosis." Gary answered with a small smirk on his face. "Looks like Ash learned a lot of things the past three years if his current strategies are any indication."

"Let's finish this up with a combination Froslass, use Shadow Ball then follow it up with Blizzard!" Froslass formed a dark purple, almost black sphere before launching at her opponent before performing a Blizzard attack that seemed to wrap around the Shadow Ball multiplying both its power and speed. The contrast of dark and pure white was so captivatingly beautiful that Misty almost forgot that they were in a match. "Politoed use your Hypervoice to block that attack."

Politoed stood his ground against the incoming attack and took a deep breath before using his Hypervoice to battle against the combination move. It worked for a few seconds, before the combination overpowered the frog Pokemon. The impact had caused an explosion in the battlefield and they had to cover their eyes from the bright light that had been produced as an effect. But when the light died down and they looked back at the battlefield with bated breath they saw Politoed unconscious.

"Politoed is unable to battle. The winner of this match is Ash Froslass and the winner of this three on three match is Ash from Pallet town." Brock declared as Pikachu and Mienfoo cheered and even Froslass gave a contented smile before returning to her grinning master's side. "You were Amazing Froslass!" He told her as he began patting her head, much to her delight. "Fros." After thanking and returning her Pokemon, Misty walked over to Ash and held out a hand.

"Thanks for the great match Ash." She said as Ash took the offered hand. "But still I can't believe how strong you've gotten. If you're recently captured Pokemon are already so strong, exactly how strong are your older Pokemon then?" Misty asked, not expecting Ash to seriously answer her. "They're really strong and we've done a lot of training to get to where we are now. I wouldn't be able to do my job otherwise." When everyone heard that, they were equal parts surprised and suspicious. What did he mean by his job?

Finally, one of them voiced out their concern. "Ash, what do you mean by you wouldn't be able to do your job?" Brock asked as Ash put his hand behind his head. "Oh, did I forget to tell you guys? I'm one of the Frontier Brains in the new Johto battle Frontier." He told them as if he was just talking about the weather or telling the time. There was a moment of stunned silence from the gang as it took seconds for that information to fully process and for the second time that day, they shouted in unison. "What?!"

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	2. Chapter 2

Pokemon: The Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier

Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem

A/N: Thank you for all the people who reviewed chapter 1 of this fanfic! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

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Chapter 2

"Okay let me get this straight." Gary Oak said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You, Ash Ketchum, after finishing your training under Brandon and doing a lot of preparations, are now a frontier brain for the Johto Battle frontier that opened just six months ago." He said to which Ash just nodded. "Yup, that sounds about right." He replied nonchalantly as the others who had been silent until now finally let out what they were thinking.

"Ash! How could you not have told us about this in three years?!" Misty shrieked, looking absolutely indignant. "That's right, you never mentioned this in your letters!" Iris added as both girls loomed above him with righteous fury in their eyes. "In fact, you stopped writing to us ever since last year!" By now, even Ash couldn't remain calm and weakly held his hands up. "But I did mention in my letters that I was training to be a frontier brain, and just the fact that I went to train under Brandon should say it all."

"It's not the same thing to say that you're training to be a frontier brain and that you're already one. Besides, don't you know how worried you made us when you suddenly stopped giving us occasional calls or letters?" May chided from where she was, both of her hands on her hips, and looking pretty cross. "Ah, I was really busy the last past year…" He weakly offered, but it didn't seem to appease the girls. "Look, I'm really sorry for making you guys worry about me, and not telling you guys about it…"

"But I honestly thought that you guys had already gotten my latest letter." He said and a still upset, but slightly curious Dawn voiced out the question that was on their minds. "What do you mean by latest letter, Ash?" She asked as Ash hurriedly explained. "I sent a letter to you all, about a week ago about how I became a frontier brain. I even had it express mailed." As soon as he said that, Brock asked the question that saved his life from the wrath of four females.

"Where did you send those letters from, Ash?" He asked and Ash thought about it. "I sent it from Violet City, but that day Pidgey Mail was closed so I went and sent them through Farfetch'd Mail instead." He said as the gang gave a collective groan. "That makes sense." Max said, but when it seemed that Ash had no idea still on what was going on, decided to fill him in. "Ash, didn't you see the news? Farfetch'd Mail went on a week-long strike."

"Oh, no wonder you guys didn't get my letters." He said simply and seemed to want to say something more when the doorbell rang. Professor Oak frowned before going over to the door, who on earth could it be at this time of night? When he opened the door, he saw a man wearing a hat with a Farfetch'd logo on it, holding a large bag filled to the brim with letters. "Express delivery mail for Professor Samuel Oak, and Tracey Sketchit." The man said before handing two letters to the older man.

When the professor Oak saw who the sender was, his expression turned wry. "You wouldn't have a letter addressed for Delia Ketchum in there as well, would you?" He asked as the man looked surprised before he took a letter out from his bag. "Yeah, I do. But how did you know that, sir?" He asked as the professor sighed. "The sender of these letters; and that one in your hand is in my living room as we speak. Being interrogated by his friends about a letter he swears he sent through your carrier."

The man looked sheepish at that. "Sorry about that, sir. But the strike only ended this morning. So we were only able to start sending the letters this afternoon." He said, but the Professor just waved him off. "No, don't worry about it. There was no way he or you could have known that the strike would happen. But you might as well give me the other letter to save you the trip from going to Delia's home since she's here as well. Arceus knows that you've got your work cut out for you."

The man hesitated for a second, but one look at the bag full of letters was all it took for the man to hand the letter over to him with a grateful nod before giving a curt farewell and leaving to deliver the other letters meant for the people of Pallet town. Professor Oak then went back inside where curious looks met his return. "It seems that Ash's mail has finally arrived." He said before sitting back down on the couch. "Does this mean I'm off the hook?" Ash asked and exasperated looks were sent his way.

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"So that is the only thing you haven't told us, right? You're not hiding anything else?" Iris asked as she regarded Ash. "You say that as if I was intentionally hiding the part about me being a Frontier Brain." He muttered before adding. "Oh, wait there is something! But not really, it's more off a new interest I picked up over the years than anything else." He said which seemed to shock everyone. But it was Delia Ketchum who had been serving the gang some after dinner coffee and tea who recovered first.

"That's great news, Sweetie!" She exclaimed as she finally sat down on the couch. "Yeah, that's great Ash. But exactly what managed to pique your interest?" Tracy asked as Ash grinned before answering. "It's archeology." The effect was instantaneous as the elder Professor Oak spat out his tea, while the other reactions that were garnered from the others were spluttering, choking on coffee, with the most mild reaction being eyes widening.

"Wha-What did you just say Ash?" Gary Oak asked in between coughs from almost choking on his coffee. "I said it's archeology, but you guys are acting as if I said that it was going on a killing spree with a chainsaw." He said, sounding a bit upset. "We're sorry, Ash. But this is quite an unexpected flavor coming from you." Cilan apologized and Brock added. "Cilan's right. In all our years of traveling together, you never really showed much enthusiasm for archeology, Ash."

"Well, when you're training under Brandon for two years straight, it's impossible not to get interested in it and I was pretty interested in it before, but I was just so focused on the Pokemon leagues at the time." He replied before his face turned thoughtful. "By the way you guys, what time is it?" He asked and Dawn answered him. "It's nine twenty eight." Ash's eyes then widened in horror as he hurriedly stood up. Pikachu, who had been quiet thus far, let out an urgent "Pika!" before hopping onto his shoulder.

"Professor Oak, can I use your phone?" He asked, the words coming out rushed. "I don't mind, my boy. But where's the fire?" The old man asked as the raven haired teenager made a beeline for the man's lab. "Sorry Professor, no time to talk. Have to call Baby!" The others' eyes widened at his words. Was it possible that after all these years, Ash had finally? They stayed there for a few more seconds before following after the teen. They had to know, and there's no way that they would miss out on this.

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If Ash or Pikachu found it strange that everyone had followed after them, they didn't voice it out. But then again with how focused they were on the phone, they probably didn't notice the gang standing behind them anyways. After four rings, the person on the other end of the call finally picked up the call and an image appeared on the monitor. The group had to stifle their gasps when they saw that the person on the other end of the line was a beautiful teen with long chocolate colored hair and eyes.

But the most surprised were Brock and Misty who recognized who the teen was. "Hey Giselle." He greeted as the girl frowned as she looked down at her wrist watch. "You're almost late." She replied as the raven haired teen scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, kinda got sidetracked." He offered as Giselle sighed. "Well, whatever. At least you called before nine thirty; otherwise Baby would have started crying again." She said before adding. "Just wait a second, I'll go and get her."

"Thanks." Ash told her as the girl disappeared from the view of the monitor for half a minute before she returned with something in her hands that started whining as soon as it saw Ash on the monitor. "Here Baby, it's your daddy Ash." Giselle said, which got the gang infinitely curious about what or who she was holding, but they couldn't see as Ash blocked their view. But it seemed that things were starting to go their way when Giselle spoke again. "By the way, why do you have an audience behind you?"

Ash and Pikachu looked surprise before turning back to look at their family and friends who were standing behind them some distance away, looking sheepish. But with that movement, they all got a clear view of what Giselle was holding and inwardly sighed, yeah; they thought it would be something like this. Ash looked confused as to why everyone was there before his face brightened up. "Hey guys, since you're here let me introduce you guys. This is Giselle and in her hands is Baby."

Ash then turned back to the monitor. "Giselle, Baby, meet my mom, Professor Oak and my friends." He said as Giselle gave them a small formal bow. "Nice to meet you all." She said before continuing. "But since I already know Brock and Misty, "it's nice to see you guys again" is probably more applicable for them." She said and both Kanto gym leaders gave her matching grins. "It's nice to see you again Giselle." Misty said as Brock nodded.

That was when the creature in the teen's arms began to whimper, which caused Ash to immediately turn back to the monitor. "Hey what's wrong, Baby?" He asked as the Vulpix began pawing at the monitor. "She just missed you like every other day that you've been away." Giselle answered before adding. "How long will you be away by the way? Because I already have half a mind to send her to you, Ash." She said as Ash began to subconsciously scratch Pikachu's ears, which caused him to let out a happy squeal before lying down.

"Has she been causing trouble?" He asked, but the other teen just shook her head. "No, but she hasn't been eating as much since you've left and she seems to get more withdrawn with each day that passes." She replied which caused Ash to frown. "That's not good. Well, I'm not really on the road anymore, so I guess it would be okay if you sent her to me." He said as Giselle nodded. "Yeah, that's probably for the best." She agreed before asking. "But who do you plan on sending back?"

"I'll send Bellosom back." He answered simply as Giselle nodded. "Alright then, just wait a bit. I'll go get Baby's Pokeball." She said before walking away from the monitor with the Vulpix, who didn't seem to want to go away from the machine that showed her trainer. "Shh. Baby, don't worry. I'll be sending you to him in a few minutes. Just wait for a little longer, ok?" She said soothingly as the Pokemon slowly ceased her struggling.

Once they were gone from view, Ash turned back to see everyone who looked like they wanted to say something. "Is something wrong?" He asked, not knowing the torrent of questions that he had just unleashed. "Why did Giselle say Daddy Ash, a little while ago?" "Why was that Vulpix so small?" "Did you really name that Vulpix, Baby?" "Why was your Vulpix with Giselle?" "What is your exact relationship with Giselle?"

Ash seemed to be taken aback from all the questions, and was about to attempt to answer a couple of them when the chocolate haired teen returned with a Pokeball in her hand. "Ash, I'll send Baby to you now." She said as she returned the Vulpix back to her Pokeball. Ash had given her a small nod as he pulled out a Pokeball from his belt and enlarged it before putting it in the Pokeball transporter, with Giselle doing the same thing before pressing some buttons in the machine.

Suddenly, the machine began charging a bright white light that fell on the Pokeball, engulfing it before it disappeared and another one appeared in its place a few seconds after. Ash grabbed the Pokeball and held it over the monitor. "I got Baby's Pokeball safely." He said as Giselle nodded before taking the Pokeball on the transporter from her side. "Bellosom's Pokeball has also arrived safely here." She told him as she held it up so that Ash could see.

"Thanks, Giselle. By the way, how's everybody doing?" He asked conversationally. "Everyone's doing fine over here. Right now, they're all doing their own thing. Want me to call them?" She offered, but Ash only shook his head. "Nah, no need to bother them." He told her. "Oh yeah, your third was asking when you're planning on coming back." She commented nonchalantly before adding. "Apparently, there's a chance you'll get a challenger soon."

Ash's eyes seemed to light up at that as he looked at his Pikachu, who seemed to share his excitement. "Is that so? Did she also happen to say when?" He asked as Giselle thought about it for a moment before replying. "If he manages to beat the frontier brain tomorrow, then probably in a week's time." She answered as Ash nodded. "Then that's enough time. I was originally planning on staying here for a couple of days before returning to Johto."

"Well, that's fine too. Give me a call tomorrow night, and I'll give you an update on the result of the match. No point in you leaving early if the challenger loses and needs to have a rematch first." She said. "Yeah, that's probably for the best. Well, I've probably taken up enough of your time. I'll call back again tomorrow for the update, and give everyone my regards, Giselle." He told her as she nodded before ending the phone call.

He then took a deep breath, before turning around again. But before anyone could say anything, he held out his hand up first. "I know you guys want me to answer some questions, but can that wait after I take care of Baby first?" He asked and the others reluctantly gave their agreement as he threw the Pokeball in his hands up and released the Pokemon inside. "Vul." Baby cried as she began to limp towards her trainer who scooped her into his arms.

It was only when the Vulpix walked that they noticed the metal brace on one of her hind legs. "Goodness gracious, Ash! What on earth happened to that Vulpix?" Professor Oak asked as he went closer to get a closer look at the Pokemon. "Ah, it's a bit of a long story. You mind if I tell it while I give Baby some food?" He asked and it seemed that no one had a problem with that, and in a matter of minutes the gang was back at the living room sitting on the couch once again as Ash fed the Vulpix with a baby bottle.

"So, Pikachu and I were walking around the forest two weeks ago when we heard this really loud growling noise and when we went to check it out we found Baby, who looked really close to collapsing. She was being attacked by a Nidorino because she accidentally encroached in his territory while she was looking for food." He said as the others looked horrified at just the mere thought. "Pikachu scared him off good though with a good thunderbolt and I took that chance to get Baby to a Pokemon center."

"According to Nurse Joy, Baby was just a few days old at the time." He said as he removed the now empty baby bottle away from the Vulpix mouth. "She had to stay in the ICU for the night, and it was touch and go for a while. But Baby pulled through." He said as the Vulpix began nuzzling her head to his face. "The next day, I tried finding Baby's parents. But according to the Ranger who was stationed there, Baby's mom had been attacked by a poacher and taken somewhere a few days earlier."

"So I decided to take her with me, since it would be the same as leaving her to die if I left her back at that forest. But one of her legs got really injured, so Nurse Joy needed to give her a brace." He said as he patted the top of the Vulpix head, who cooed happily. Pikachu, who had been sitting on the arm rest next to Ash then jumped down to Ash's lap before making funny faces which seemed to make Baby laugh. "But since I spoil her so much, the others kept calling her my baby, until the name stuck."

"Hence the name. and it didn't take long for them to give me the nickname Daddy Ash since they said that Baby sees me as her dad." He summarized as the others gave fond smiles at that, it was so like Ash to end up as a Pokemon's daddy. "That explains why Baby looks so small for her kind, she probably didn't get enough nutrition when she was in that forest. Not to mention if you take into account her young age." Professor Oak mused and Ash sighed.

"It's not just that Professor. For the first few days, Baby didn't really eat a lot. It's only recently that she's started to eat a bit more." Ash said as he looked at the Fox Pokemon on his lap who seemed to be chatting animatedly with Pikachu. "Baby also gets really scared of strangers, whether they're human or Pokemon. The only ones she gets along with are the people and Pokemon back at my Frontier station." Professor Oak shook his head sadly at that. "I'm sure that her time back at that forest had caused a trauma."

"But I'm sure that with constant care, like you're giving her now, she'll be able to get over it one day." He said as Ash nodded. That was when Baby let out a small yawn, before curling up into a ball. "Oh? Looks like playing with Pikachu tired my Baby out." He cooed to her and she gave a soft whine before falling asleep in his lap.

He then turned back to his family and friends. "I'm a man of my word so if you guys have any questions, fire away. But not too loud, ok?" He told them as they nodded and May was the first one to speak up, well whisper, more like it. "What's your exact relationship with Giselle?" She asked and Ash answered her in a voice just as soft. "She's part of my Frontier Crew." The next one to ask was Max. "What's a Frontier crew?"

Ash took a few seconds before answering. "A Frontier Crew is a group of people who help a Frontier Brain run his or her Station." Cilan then went next. "How many people do you have in your crew, Ash?" He asked and Ash answered immediately. "Seven." He answered as the gym leaders in the group's eyes widened. "That's a big number. Does it take that many people to run one Frontier Station?" Brock commented as Ash shook his head.

"No, you can run it with just three people. But I dunno, I'm just a bit different from some of the others and have a pretty large crew. But while it may seem like a big number, they all have different roles." He said as it was Tracey who asked the question on everybody's mind. "What do you mean by different roles?" Ash grinned before he began listing down the roles. "Second, Third, Breeder, DoIA, Chef and Apprentices." He said and before anyone could say anything, continued.

"Second is short for second-in-command, which is pretty self explanatory. Third, is also short for third-in-command, who is also the director of external affairs. The Breeder role; is also self explanatory. The DoIA, is short for Director of Internal affairs. It's this person's job to manage and take care of our living conditions and stuff. Chef, that's another one that's self explanatory. Finally, Apprentice is someone who learns directly from the Frontier Station."

"But the only ones that are absolutely mandatory for every Frontier station are Second and Third. If you have them, then you'll manage somehow." He said as they all nodded. "Then what role does Giselle have?" Dawn asked. "She's my DoIA." He answered as Misty gave a small smile. "But to think, what were the odds that your DoIA would be someone you already knew." She said as Ash blinked before scratching the back of his head. "Of course, she'd be someone I'd know. I invited her."

That caused an immediate reaction from the others as they all opened their mouths, but Ash was faster and put a finger to his lips and shushed them before looking meaningfully at the sleeping Pokemon in his lap. Which was a pretty funny sight to see for the others since Pikachu had also subconsciously done the same thing, at the exact same time as Ash. But instead of roaring with laughter like they wanted they stifled their laughter behind their hands for Baby's sake.

It took a minute before they could remove their hands without a risk of laughing like mad men. But once they did, Gary cleared his throat before asking the next question. "What do you mean by you invited Giselle, Ashy boy?" Ash glared at the elder teen for the nickname, but answered anyways. "I invited her, as in literally asked her to join my Frontier Crew, just like everyone else who's part of my crew. A Frontier Brain has the right to invite people to join their crew."

"The only time that Scott will assign people to a Frontier Brain is when they don't or can't find anyone to invite. But before that happens he'll give you a list of potential crew members, and the Frontier Brains can pick out crew members from that very list." He explained. The next question came from an unexpected source as Ash addressed the one who raised her hand. "Yes, mom?" He asked and Delia spoke. "Honey, does that mean that you're crew is full of people you know well?"

Ash grinned at that question. "Not just my crew, the other Frontier Brains and a lot of the members of their crew are people I know. It's practically a reunion every time we get together." He said which garnered a couple of curious looks from the others. But Ash only wagged his finger at them. "Ah, ah, ah. No spoiling the surprise." He said and Iris crossed her arms. "Why won't you tell us, Ash?" She asked and the raven haired teen chuckled. "If you knew their identities, you'd all have a fit of laughter."

"While I can't exactly tell you guys now, I plan on letting you guys find out when you guys meet them in person." He said which seemed to surprise them. "What do you mean by that Ash?" Dawn asked. "Well, I was planning on taking you guys with me to Johto." He answered simply as the others gaped. "Just when we're you planning on telling us that, Ash?" Professor Oak spluttered as Ash scratched his cheek. "I was planning you guys after dinner, but I got sidetracked."

His friends sighed at that. "You really haven't changed, Ash." Misty commented before continuing. "Well, I don't mind going to Johto, but mind giving us any details about the trip?" A look of confusion appeared on Ash's face at that. "Details?" Misty sighed before Brock spoke up. "As in the date, time and how we'll get there." He supplied as understanding dawned on Ash. "Ah, well we could get there either by plane or by boat. But as for the date and time that will depend."

"Depend on what, Ash?" Cilan asked as Ash grinned. "It'll depend on what happens in the challenger's match with the frontier brain tomorrow. If he wins, then we'll leave earlier." He replied as the others nodded in understanding. "But do you think the challenger will win tomorrow, Ash?" Max asked as Ash's grin turned into a smirk. "Well, I guess can give this to you guys as a teaser. The challenger will need to be really good, because he'll be going up against Paul tomorrow."

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	3. Chapter 3

Pokemon: The Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier

Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Chapter 3

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"Comm'on guys, the boat is leaving!" Ash cried out to his friends who raced into the metal vehicle and not a moment too soon as the horn suddenly blew, signaling that they were about to depart. Once his friends reached where he was on deck, he sighed. "You know, shopping is fine and all, but it's another thing altogether for it to cause you all to miss the boat." He calmly told them as he stared at the mountain of shopping bags and boxes that were supposed to be his male friends. "Pika!" Pikachu added helpfully.

Of course they mostly, if not all of them belonged to his female friends. Though the more he stared at his male friends, the more he couldn't help but pity them, and he mentally began to thank whatever legendary Pokemon had decided to take pity on him today and let him unintentionally separate from the group earlier, thus letting him escape the inevitable, if only for today. "Hey don't blame us! We would have gotten here earlier, but the girls took too long to pay!" Max retorted.

"That was because the line was too long and the store only had one cash register. But what else do you expect to happen on a fifty percent sale holiday?" May replied as the other females nodded in agreement. "But even if it was on sale, don't you think this is a bit too much?" Gary Oak asked. "Of course not. When it comes to sales, you need to get all the good ones you can, since they don't happen too often." Misty answered in a matter of fact tone, and the guys all inwardly sighed.

"Well, how about this, we split up and take all of our stuff back to our rooms and while we do that Ash, why don't you go save us a table at the dining room since you've already placed your things in your room?" Brock suggested and when no objections were raised to his idea, the group split up and headed to the rooms below deck while Ash and Pikachu headed for the dining hall. But once he was only a few steps away from his destination, his Xtranceiver began to ring.

"Pika?" The Pokemon asked titling its head to look at the screen. Ash's eyebrow rose when he saw who the caller was but wordlessly pressed the 'answer call' button. The image of a teen with long chocolate hair then greeted him. "Everything ok, there, Giselle?" He asked. "Of course it is, you think the others and I would slack off and let the frontier station fall to ruin?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm and Ash gave a dry laugh. "I guess, then to what do I owe the honor of this call from you, milady?"

"You owe it to Scott." Ash raised an eyebrow at that. "Scott?" He repeated, and when she nodded in confirmation, he kept quiet to let her continue. "He's suddenly called for an emergency meeting." She explained as his confusion grew even more. "Did he tell you why?" He asked, but she only shook her head. "Nope, I just got an email from him a little while ago that said that there was to be an emergency meeting that would take place in Cherry Grove City two days from now."

"Will you be able to make it?" She asked as he thought about it. "What time does the meeting take place?" It took less than a second for her to answer him. "At ten am sharp."Ash then put his hand under his chin as he tried to calculate the time it would take to get to Cherry Grove. "I'll be cutting it close, but I'll make it." He finally replied before adding. "But take note that I'll be coming with my friends." He said, but Giselle only waved him off. "I'm sure they'll understand."

"Who are you referring to, my friends or the other Frontier Brains?" Ash asked as a small grin began to appear on his face. "Both." She answered simply before adding. "But you're friends might have to sit out of the meeting." She said and he nodded. "Probably, but is there anything else you wanna tell me about this meeting?" Giselle only thought about it for a second before answering. "Well, the meeting will be held at conference room three at the Newtown Hotel."

"Food and drinks will be served, of course, and the Frontier Brain is required to bring either their second or anyone else who's a part of their crew." She finished and Ash winced. "I don't suppose that my second has returned yet in my absence at the frontier station?" He asked and Giselle shook her head, giving a look that was nothing short of being sympathetic. "Thought as much." He said before sighing. "Not much we can do about it; you know the type of guy he is. Though you still have to take someone with you…"

"So, who'll it be?" Ash thought about it for a second. "How about you go with me, then?" He said and Giselle seemed to be a bit surprised at his choice. "I didn't expect that, I would have thought, you'd choose your third to accompany you to the meeting." She honestly admitted and he laughed. "She would have also been a good choice, but with a challenger on his way, I think her hands are full as it is. No need to give her more work by making her travel even farther away from the Frontier Station."

"That makes sense, I guess." Giselle allowed as a small smile appeared on her face. "We'll just meet up at the conference room, and make sure you don't come late again, Ash." She told him and he nodded. "Yeah, I'll try my best to be punctual this time." He replied. "Well, that's it for now. I'll contact you if there are any last minute changes." She told him. "See you in two days then." He replied as she gave him a curt nod. "See you in two days, Ash." She said, before she cut the call.

"Looks like things are about to get even more interesting, Pikachu." He told his partner before he began to scratch behind the small electric mouse Pokemon's ears. "Chaa!" The mouse happily answered before Ash continued his walk to the dining hall, all the while wondering about two things. The first was that he was wondering what was so important that Scott needed to call in an emergency meeting, and the second was how to break the news to his friends.

* * *

After dinner was done and both Pokemon and people had their fill, the group was about to leave when a loud cough got their attention. They turned to the source, only to find Ash, who was the only one who stayed seated. "Guys, could you spare a minute? There's something I need to tell you because of a sudden change in plans." He started and the others began sitting back down. "What do you mean by sudden change of plans?" Iris asked as everyone's eyes looked at their friend expectantly.

"You see…" Ash then began to tell them all about Giselle's call to him before dinner and what they had discussed about. "I see, so instead of going straight to Azalea town, we'll be heading for Cherry Grove first for the meeting." Cilan summarized and Dawn perked up. "But doesn't this mean that we'll get to see the Johto frontier brains at last?" She asked and Ash nodded. "This wasn't how I expected things to go, but I guess this works too." He answered simply. "Too bad Tracey, Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum couldn't go with us this time." Misty started before continuing. "If they did, they would have been able to meet the other Johto frontier brains and their Seconds as well."

"It can't be helped; I know that gramps really wanted to go. But who would have thought that the very next day he'd get mail saying that there was this Pokemon conference that he'd needed to go to and as his assistant, Tracey needed to go as well." Gary replied. "Yeah, and it was just bad luck that the day before we leave mom gets a call about my uncle getting into an accident, and as the only family member, aside from me, who still lives in the same region, she said it was her duty to take care of him."

"But there's always a next time. I'll just invite them again some other time." Ash said as he began to lean into his seat to get more comfortable. "But I can't wait to find out who the other Frontier Brains are." Max said before adding. "Well so far, we know two of them, you and Paul. But there are still six more to go." Dawn then piped up. "Still just the fact that you and Paul are working together, and have become good friends still hasn't lost its novelty on me yet."

"I can't help but feel slightly insulted at that." Ash said and the others began to laugh. "But it's kind of understandable since you two were such bitter rivals before." Brock supplied helpfully and Ash waved him off. "Past is past." He replied simply causing the others to laugh again. "It's kind of funny hearing that from you of all people, Ashy boy." Gary told him between laughs and Ash glared at him. "But it has been years, so it's only natural that both Ash and Paul to have matured too." Brock said, backing up Ash.

His words seemed to have triggered a chain reaction since it prompted some to nod and the others to look thoughtful. "I guess that Ash did mature a bit over the years." May suddenly piped up which caused everyone's eyes to turn to her. "I mean, you know back at Pallet town, he seemed to take training more seriously, and I guess, when he was with the kids!" She hastily explained, but the others seemed to have gotten lost at the last part.

"That's true, Ash seemed to devote a part of each day into training both his Pokemon and himself now. But I don't really mean what you mean by kids, May. Care to elaborate?" He asked as May tried to find the best words to explain what she meant. "I guess you can say he's managed to become something like a responsible older brother back at Pallet town. Remember when he took the time to teach Jackson, Gilbert and Isabella a bit about Pokemon?" She said as the others seemed to understand.

"Really? I think he had actually spoiled those kids, a bit." Misty said and all eyes turned to her. "What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked. "You know, aside from teaching them and letting them play with his Pokemon, I heard that he took them out to a few trips to the outskirts of Pallet town to see wild Pokemon." She explained as the others gave incredulous stares at Ash. "What? In my defense, I took them to places with friendly and peaceful Pokemon, and that's Spearow and Fearow free."

"That's not it Ash." Cilan gently told him as the others nodded. "Then what is it?" He asked, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "We just didn't think you were the type to chaperone, that and we never expected you to be good with children." Iris said as the others nodded their heads in agreement. "Well, I got enough practice back at the Frontier Station." He muttered just low enough that no one would be able to hear him.

"But anyways, it's getting late we should probably head back to our rooms and get some rest." Ash said. "That's right we land at Johto at noon tomorrow, but after that we'll still have a trip to Cherry Grove City, so we should get all the rest while we still can." Brock added and shortly after the group stood and began to head to their respective cabins. But tonight it seemed that the sandman was especially pumped up to do his work, because as soon as their heads hit the pillow, the teens fell fast asleep.

* * *

The gang spent the next morning to midday having breakfast, playing around on deck, battling on the specified area on deck, then relaxing a bit before finally having lunch. While they were eating lunch, the captain had sent a message through the intercom saying that they would be docking in Johto in approximately one hour. But once they did dock, the gang had been one of the firsts to disembark, partially because they were excited at the prospect of having landed in a new region, and partially because they had no time to waste.

* * *

An amused look appeared on Giselle's face as just five minutes before ten, the door dramatically burst open and all eyes turned to see a teen with raven black hair standing at the open doorway. "Did I make it?" Were the first words out of his lips, which prompted a few giggles from the others in the room. "With four minutes and fifty seconds to spare." Giselle answered as he let out a sigh in relief as he went over to what he supposed was his seat.

But as soon as he did, he could hear someone from the opposite side of the table shout "Darn it!" This prompted him to turn slightly in his seat and he saw that the source was actually his blond haired friend, Barry, who was giving a violet haired male what looked like a few Pokedollar bills. "Am I missing something?" Ash asked and was answered by the blue haired girl wearing yellow and black beside him. "Nah, Barry just went and made a bet with Shingo that you would be late."

Ash gave the two a dry look. "You bet on whether or not, I'd make it in time?" He asked flatly as the blonde's face became a bit sheepish as he raised his hands. "Hey, we were bored." He said in his defense while for the part of the violet haired teen, he just calmly stated. "At least I bet you would make it in time." He said and Ash fought the urge to face palm. "Cheer up Ash, at least you made it in time." The blonde teen who sat exactly opposite him, said before adding. "And you've even broken your record."

"And what record is that, Bianca?" He asked, though his gut told him that he really didn't want to know. "The number of times you haven't been late for meetings in a row." A male teen who sat next to Bianca answered and Ash twitched. "As of now, your record is four times." He continued. "No that's wrong Steven, it's his fifth time. You forgot the meeting at Olivine City." A female teen sporting a ponytail corrected. "Oh right, thanks Shauna- Wait a second! I keep telling you my name is Stephan, not Steven!"

"It's close enough." The teen beside Shauna said. "No, it's not! It's as far as the name Cyril is to Cyrus, Chigusa!" He screamed out in frustration as Bianca began trying to calm him down. "But anyways Ash, I heard you're friends are here too?" A tall teen asked him and he nodded. "Yeah, but they're probably chilling at the Pokemon center by now." He answered. "But when Harrison said friends, are you also referring to those guys too?" A female teen with red hair asked and he nodded.

"Assuming we're talking about the same people, then yes, Georgia." He replied evenly as he realized that a few faces that he had been expecting weren't around. "Hey aren't I usually the only person here who attends the meetings with an MIA Second?" He asks before quickly adding. "Not that I'm not happy to see you guys!" Three females then began to giggle at his antics. "Oh don't worry about it; we know you didn't mean it in a bad way." A teen with violet hair in pigtails said while the other two nodded.

Ash looked visibly relieved at that, but who wouldn't? Despite how he usually was the saying that 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' was firmly engraved in his mind like every other male in this room. "But it has been a long time since I last saw you three, Cherry, Miki, Sakura." He addressed them before continuing. "I think the last time I saw you three was when we threw Paul a surprise birthday party." At the mention of that event the aforementioned teen grunted. "Don't remind me of that."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad." Ash protested as the violet haired male fixed him a look. "Ok, so maybe things did get out of hand, but I'm pretty sure that years from now we'll be able to laugh at the day's events." He said and Paul said nothing at first. "I almost got buried alive by birthday cake." He stated. "Well, ok so there was that." He said as a few of the others seemed to snicker at the memory. "Oh, and not to mention that the room ended up turning into an industrial sized refrigerator."

"Thanks Nicholai, I had almost forgotten that." Ash said sarcastically, but it didn't seem that the energetic teen noticed. "You're welcome." He energetically replied before his face turned thoughtful. "But how did that even happen, again?" He asked and it was Cherry who answered him. "If I remember correctly, Pikachu accidentally released enough electricity that the air conditioning system began to malfunction, and the room ended up turning into a freezer." She said as Ash's face turned sheepish.

"Oh right, but where is Pikachu, by the way? I don't see him with you, Ash." Miki asked as the others looked at the raven haired teen curiously. "Now that you mention it…" Bianca started. "As we speak, he's at the Pokemon center with my friends, babysitting, Baby." He replied. "Oh, Baby is your Vulpix, right?" The girl wearing yellow and black said and when he nodded continued. "I wish you would have brought her along, I really wanted to see her."

"You can see her later, but I'll warn you now that she's really timid and easily gets scared of strangers. But this is a surprise, I thought you only liked Pokemon that are yellow and black, Casey." He teased and she laughed. "That only applies for my team, but I do like other kinds of Pokemon too." She said and just as Ash was about to say more the doors to the conference room opened again revealing a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Khaki shorts and sunglasses.

"Oh? Looks like everyone's already here, then I declare that this emergency meeting to officially begin!"

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

Pokemon: The Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier

Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Chapter 4

* * *

"Alright, the reason I called this emergency meeting is in response to a growing concern the Pokemon league has." Scott started before continuing. "You see, as of late the cases of crimes involving Pokemon, namely Pokemon theft, Pokemon poaching and Pokemon smuggling has been on the rise. Usually, we would leave this to the police and the Pokemon rangers, but recently, both Pokemon and trainers have been disappearing left and right."

Once the words were spoken, they immediately caused a reaction from everyone, eyes widened and some even stood up from their seats. But as if already anticipating that this would happen, Scott had raised his hand to stop any verbal outburst, at least for now. "This is happening in all the regions, but after research from the Pokemon League, it was discovered that the disappearances had first started, and has the highest number in Johto." He finished.

"But how's that even possible, we haven't heard anything about that in the news lately." Bianca said as some of the others nodded with her. "That's because the Pokemon League is having this information kept from leaking out into the media. Can you all just imagine the mass panic that would occur if people were to realize what was happening?" He replied as Miki spoke up. "But then isn't it more dangerous for the trainers, the veterans are one thing, but new trainers will be next to defenseless."

"She's right, if it's such a big issue then isn't it better to put a region wide travel band, at least for the new trainers until the perpetrators get caught. I mean, it'll suck not to be able to travel for a while, but that's a whole lot better than getting kidnapped." Casey added, but Scott only shook his head. "That would be for the best, but it's a bit more complicated than that, Casey. First of all, we're not even sure what's happening in all of the regions."

"We don't know for sure if there is someone to be held responsible for the disappearances, to be honest. All we do know is that there has currently been a spike in missing person reports, with the police having no leads on what is going on." He said. "But then how are we so sure that it's not just a series of freak accidents, or something completely different from kidnapping or disappearances." Georgia asked, as she sat up a bit straighter in her seat.

"Well, at first that was what the Pokemon League thought as well, when the police force first brought it up, but it wasn't until they saw a pattern with the disappearances that they began to suspect that foul play was involved." He replied, before continuing. "You see at first, different kinds of trainers were disappearing, so they didn't see it. But it seemed that as time passed, the number of disappearances started to go down, and the time between each disappearance seemed to widen."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Stephan asked, but Scott merely shook his head. "No, rather, it's the opposite. It's more worrisome this way." Scott began before continuing. "You see, the first to disappear were mostly new trainers, which actually happens a lot, but then as time passed the ones who disappeared were mostly trainers with around, three to five badges, then it was trainers with six to eight badges." He said which startled everyone in the room as they saw where this was going.

"That had been two weeks ago…" Scott let his sentence hang as everyone in the room began to understand what he was implying. But it was Ash, who had been quiet up until now who asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Then what's the current state of things now, Scott?" He asked and Scott's grim face managed to somehow become even grimmer. "As of last week, a trainer who's entered into a Pokemon league once or twice has been disappearing once every five days."

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence at that, but it was eventually broken by Paul. "So basically you're telling us that whatever is happening, somehow it's just coincidentally keeps going after higher targets over time." He asked, his incredulousness at the whole situation seeping into his tone. "Bu-But that can't be right, because if it is, it's just like something really is going after the trainers, so why won't the league do anything?" Cherry asked, and Scott sighed.

"It's because like what Paul said, while the 'targets are getting higher', the fact that other trainers who don't fit with that description are still disappearing. As of yesterday the total count of trainers who have disappeared for all five regions is one hundred and seven. But the League can't act carelessly because we have no concrete proof that there is something going after the trainers. Aside from the fact that the targets are going up in terms of the hierarchy, which could just be a coincidence, they got nothing."

"Bullshit, there's no way that it's just a coincidence, besides didn't you say that it was happening in all the regions? Don't tell me that they think a hundred and seven trainers just vanished into thin air?" Harrison asked his frustration evident in his tone as he stood from his seat. "You're forgetting that with those one hundred and seven disappearances you have to divide that number among five regions, and the number you get for each region is still apparently within the bounds of normal."

"So the League's not doing anything based on a technicality?!" Shauna cried out, as she too stood up from her seat. "Like I said the situation's more complicated than it seems, first of all it's hardly a technicality when it's based on statistics and recent studies, second of all the police themselves have attested that a lot of the trainers who have disappeared were last seen in places which are accident prone areas, so it is actually not that uncommon if people were to disappear there."

"Finally, the ones who disappeared were trainers." Scott said which brought pause to everyone. "Not children, trainers. There's a difference between those two, and I'm sure all of you are already know what makes the two of them different." He said and Giselle took it upon herself to answer for the group. "The difference between the two is that one is under the protection of their city, while the other has practically waived that protection upon the moment they leave their hometown."

"That's right, in other words, unless a trainer disappeared within his hometown, or where he/she has been living in for more than forty eight hours, it doesn't become such a big deal when compared to an ordinary child suddenly vanishing from his hometown." Scott told them with a sigh. "While the Pokemon League does have control over matters which have relation to Pokemon trainers and Pokemon, they don't have power over the cities and towns of the regions."

"The League does want to do something; they do want to declare a travel ban. But the Representatives of the Regions have gotten involved and they're hindering the League from enacting it." Scott said. "But why on earth wouldn't they want the League to do what needs to be done, don't they care about what happens to the trainers?" Sakura cried out, but surprisingly instead of Scott, it was Shingo who answered her. "It's not that they don't care, but it's a conflict of interest."

"Think about it, travel bans for trainers are only used in cases when there are great threats to trainers' safety and wellbeing, but right now the League doesn't have any proof that what's happening is a threat that is gunning for the trainers. At best, it's just possibility. So I'm guessing that unless something big happens, or the League gets concrete proof, the RoR will just keep on stopping the Pokemon League from enacting the travel ban." He said evenly enough, before adding.

"From the RoR's point of view, since what is happening is still within the bounds of normal, they think that the travel ban will just cause cons and has no merit." He told them and for a moment everyone began to think about what he said. "What kind of cons are you talking about, Shingo?" Chigusa asked, which brought all eyes back to the male teen. "Scott already mentioned that if the news of the disappearances were leaked, it would cause panic, right?"

"The travel ban would pretty much cause the same thing, because the last travel ban the League imposed was around seventy years ago. It happened in the Hoenn region, and it was enacted there because trainers of that time faced the risk of getting attacked, beaten within an inch of their lives, and having their money and Pokemon stolen during their travels." He said which caused many others to flinch, or cringe at what he had just said.

"Oh yeah, I heard of that from my grampa once. It was the then active Team Blast who was responsible for that, right?" Nicholai asked, and Shingo nodded. "That's right; the incident was actually called the dark days of Hoenn. People lived in fear, many wouldn't even leave their houses and in those days mass panic and hysteria were very common. It only ended when they managed to find Team Blast's hideout and apprehended most of its members."

"But since this is happening in all regions, could you just imagine what would happen." Barry jumped out of his seat. "There'll be pandemonium if they enact it within all five regions!" He exclaimed and everyone seemed to fall deep in thought. "Well, Shingo was partially correct with what he said, but there's also another issue that the RoR has to take in consideration." Scott said as everyone turned to look at the older man. "Aside from that, there's also the matter of taking the economy of each region into consideration."

"Unlike seventy years ago, we live in bigger cities and communities and the police are everywhere. So while it might cause mass panic and hysteria, it won't actually be as bad as it was seventy years ago and I'm sure that when the news first breaks it'll stir up quite a bit of fear, especially since it'll be taking place simultaneously within the five regions… But after a while, things will calm down and people will return to their normal lives." Scott told them which prompted another outburst from Shauna. "How on earth would they be able to do that with the travel ban?"

"It's simple, because in reality the travel ban only affects trainers. People who aren't trainers aren't restricted by the ban, because they most probably won't be targets, if ever. So after days pass and nothing happens people start to feel that nothing will happen, and they start to return to the lives they were living before the travel ban was enacted. So basically, the biggest issue here is the blow it will do to the economy of the regions." He explained, before his face turned thoughtful.

"Believe it or not, a region's economy is actually quite dependent on trainers. A good percent of a town's revenue is actually gotten from travelers and trainers. Inns, hotels, and those rest stops along the road, just to name a few places will lose a lot of money. Even Pokemon gyms; and the Battle Frontier won't have much to do once the travel ban takes effect." Scott said before adding. "The tourism will definitely go down as well, and if you combine all of that together, you get a region's worst nightmare."

"Wait! So this is just all about money?!" Sakura asked incredulousness in her tone. "Well, I guess you can say that, but at the same time, not really. If a region's economy was to take a nosedive, you can imagine how many lives would be affected by that. If for example, the yearly Pokemon League Conference gets cancelled because of the ban; that would be a huge loss in terms of both revenue and tourism. The economy will take a hit and it'll probably take two, maybe three years to return back to how it was."

"It'll take that long?!" Stephan squawked, and Scott nodded. "And just imagine what'll happen if the ban drags on to two or three years, I reckon Pokemon gyms, Contest halls and the Battle Frontier will have to be indefinitely closed and there'll definitely be an economic recession by then. You see the problem we're dealing with here is safety vs stability. So, the Pokemon League is actually in very delicate situation here." Scott confessed.

"Then what's the plan Scott? What did you want us to do, because I'm sure you didn't just call us out here just to tell us how precarious things currently are." Ash suddenly said, surprising the others with his words. "That's right, I didn't just call you guys out here for the sake of informing you. Doing that is just the prelude, the real reason I called you is to tell you about "Operation BASTIONS, which stands for Battle Against Scourges, Threats and Internal Oppressive Native Sects."

"It was the reached compromise between the Pokemon League and the RoR. Basically since the League thinks that this is happening within Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, they've decided to broaden their range. This is where BASTIONS comes in; it's a new interregional organization that was created for the specific purposes of investigating the disappearances, and if ever, to find conclusive proof that what is happening is more than coincidences." Scott explained; which piqued everyone's interest.

"Region champions, all elite four members and all gym leaders will be automatically become part of the operation. But the Pokemon League thinks that's still not enough, so they've begun to recruit others like certain Pokemon Professors, the GMen, the Pokemon Rangers, and finally, the Battle Frontier. Now listen guys, I don't want to force anyone, but I'd appreciate it if you joined BASTIONS." He finished, before looking at their faces to gauge their reactions. He was surprised though when Bianca started to laugh with the others, even Paul, following shortly after.

In all honestly, Scott was completely bewildered by their reaction. He had said something serious after all, and not a joke, so he couldn't fathom how he garnered such a reaction from the teens. "S-Sorry, Scott, it's not that we think what you said was funny… I-It's j-just…" Casey began. "It's just that you totally built up the tension and had our heads swimming with ideas, and the finale turns out to be just the League asking us to help." Harrison continued, before doubling over in laughter.

"It's funny cause' it's really anti-climatic." Giselle added. "Scott, you should have just told us from the beginning, you know we wouldn't hesitate to help, especially not with a problem this big." Ash told him when he was able to stop laughing. But it seemed that it was everyone else's turn to be bewildered as Scott suddenly started laughing. "Scott, you ok? You haven't lost it have you?" Chigusa asked in a careful tone, but the man merely shook his head. "No, I'm fine Chigusa, both physically and mentally."

"The reason I was laughing just then was because I realized how silly I was being. I should have just told you guys from the get go that the League wanted you guys to help, instead of scaring you guys with politics. It seems that with how dire the situation had seemed, I had ended up forgetting how you bunch are." He told them, which caused a few grins to break out. "Well for better or worse, that's how the Johto Battle Frontier is." Paul said which caused some of the others to snicker.

"But what is it that BASTIONS wants us to do, Scott?" Shinji asked, which caused the snickering to stop and everyone looked at Scott expectantly. "Well as of now, not much. You just to keep a look out on your surroundings, if a great number of trainers start disappearing in your areas you should report it and try to investigate what's going on. Basically that, and to keep an eye out for any suspicious activities in your areas." Scott told them which caused Barry to groan. "That's it?!"

"Well BASTIONS won't really be able to mobilize unless we get concrete proof that something really is wrong. So, yeah that's all you guys need to do for now. Any other questions?" He asked and a few hands were raised. "Yes, Miki?" The woman sat straight in her seat before she relayed her concerns to the man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. "Is BASTIONS something that the police also know about, and since it's an interregional organization do we need to go to the other regions?"

"Yes, the top brass of the police know about BASTIONS, but unless the organization really mobilizes, the others in the police force won't be informed of its existence. But as for the matter of you guys needing to go to the other regions… You might need to, but only if the situation has took a turn for the worst, and there is no other viable option on the organizations part, otherwise your priority will be Johto." He answered, before turning and gesturing to Cherry who had raised her hand once he finished speaking. "Has BASTIONS already been active for a long time?" Cherry asked, and Scott shook his head.

"No, it was actually just started a little more than a week ago, and actually while the organization is already in existence, the information on it still hasn't been disseminated in the other regions yet." He replied and another hand shot up. "But why only Johto, then?" Georgia asked. "It's because to the League, Johto is a high risk region, since like I had told you guys, the disappearances is presumed to have started here and in terms of numbers, we have a bit more disappearance cases than the other regions."

Ash then took that opportunity and raised his hand. "Yes, Ash?" Scott asked as he turned to address the raven haired teen. "I kinda figured that BASTIONS need to be kept a secret, but do I also need to keep it from my friends who are gym leaders from Kanto?" He said and Scott's face turned thoughtful. "Well, I guess it would be alright to tell them about the organization since gym leaders have been automatically signed up into BASTIONS, whether they know it or not…"

"Of course, I probably don't need to say this but you can tell your Frontier Crews about the organization, since by joining, your respective crews have automatically become BASTIONS members as well. Which reminds me, since you have chosen to join the organization; the official list of its members will be sent to you all by the end of the week." He told them before asking. "Any other questions?" When no one raised their hand or said anything, Scott finally sat down for the first time since the meeting begun and happily said his next words. "Then this meeting is officially adjourned!"

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Please Review!

As for who is in the Harem, I won't spoil who they are yet but I will tell you all that Giselle is in the Harem. Also, none of the gang will be part of the harem since they each have their own pairings.


End file.
